MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



205 



cause stock do not find most weeds palatable, and so eat 

 the grass, leaving the weeds to flourish. Many pastures 

 are thickly sprinkled with weeds which not only rob the 

 soil but prevent cattle from eating the grass growing 

 close to their roots, thus adding to the waste. Weeds 

 should be cut from the pasture each year before they bear 

 seed. 



Grazing stock not only reject the weeds for the more 



Baling hay in the West directly from the meadow. 



palatable grass, but also have their preference among 

 grasses. All have noted that the uplands in a pasture are 

 grazed close, while low wet areas are hardly touched. In 

 many cases the low parts of a pasture are almost wasted, 

 because the red-top and other wet-soil grasses are less 

 palatable than the blue-grass and clovers which thrive only 

 on well drained soil. Such marshy places should be drained ; 

 the better pasture grasses will then soon take possession. 



Pastures, like meadows, may become sod-bound. Almost 

 every pasture can be improved by disking or cultivating 

 with a knife-toothed harrow. When this is done, fresh 



